


The Long Way Home

by Tallulah_Rasa



Series: Something Like Home [2]
Category: Stargate SG-1
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Character Study, Stranded
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-15
Updated: 2014-09-15
Packaged: 2018-02-15 01:19:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,002
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2210265
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tallulah_Rasa/pseuds/Tallulah_Rasa
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A sequel to "Something Like Chutney."  Stranded on an alien world with Sam and Daniel, Jack learns to redefine "home" -- and himself.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Long Way Home

**Author's Note:**

> As with "Something Like Chutney," this story contains background relationships, but the focus is really on Jack. And, again, Jack and Sam's relationship doesn't work out. Sorry.   
> Additional warnings for some cursing, some adult concepts, and some sadness, though things work out (to my mind, anyway) in the end.
> 
> Thanks to Roslyn for straightening out some convoluted phrasing and the more objectionable bits of characterization.

The first three years were the hardest, because Jack fought everything. Well, he was military, fighting was in his blood. Settling in, settling down, meant giving up, and he couldn't do that and still be Jack O'Neill. So he sniped at Sam, growled at the neighbors, griped about everything. No one seemed to care, or maybe no one noticed. After a while, even Sam just rolled her eyes. And when Daniel and Ani came back to visit, carting first baby Jas, and then their next blue-eyed baby boy, Tag, Daniel was his usual enthusiastic self, fielding Jack's sarcasm with cheerful good will.

One day, after the first three years had ticked away, Daniel and Ani came back and announced they were staying. Ani had trained one of her younger brothers to be the traveling healer. She'd decided to open a clinic in town; to settle down and raise her children in one place.

"But you have brothers and sisters out there," Sam had said, gesturing to somewhere far off, somewhere they'd never been. "Don't you want to be with family?"

"We _are_ with family here,"  Ani had said, as though that should have been obvious.

Jack thought maybe "family" meant something different to Ani than it did to people from Earth. People other than Daniel, anyway, who'd always seemed more at home offworld than on.

Daniel was busy settling in, and it was harvest time, so Jack didn't see much of him for a few weeks. He was waiting for Daniel to change his mind; to stumble over some meaning of life thing and decide he wasn't staying, after all. But late one afternoon Daniel dragged Jack away from the sort-of-corn field he was hoeing, and led Jack down to the rolling land behind his family's new home. There, Daniel had cut back the lush grass, and turned the rich, clean-smelling soil, and made a garden for Ani. That was the tradition: when you settled down you planted low-growing, violet flowers and fragrant herbs, and in between, you placed slabs inlaid with colored stones in memory of your loved ones now gone.

Jack and Sam's house had no garden.

"So, you're going to stay," Jack said, walking between the neat flower beds and the carefully laid slabs. There was one for Ani's father, and two for her grandparents.

"I told you that," Daniel said. "But I wanted to ask you..."

A little farther over were mosaics that read, "Janet" and "Robert", and then "Sha're" and "Kasuf" and "Skaara", and then a round slab inlaid only with the symbol for Abydos, in brilliant golds and reds. A bit further on was a large slab with desert-colored bits that spelled out "Melbourne and Claire", and next to it...

"I hope..." Daniel said hesitantly, "I hope you don't mind. It's just that..."

...a small square, carefully inlaid with blue and green tiles, bathed in the warm late afternoon sun, surrounded by a mound of tiny flowering blooms. A small square that read, "Charlie".

"I know he wasn't...I mean, I never even knew him," Daniel went on. "But he changed my life. And..."

Jack almost didn't hear him. His heart was pounding, and he was trying hard not to cry. But then something dissolved -- the last bit of anger, maybe, or the last bit of General O'Neill.

_I is someone else_.

Jack wanted to say, _Oh, Daniel, how could you think I'd mind?_ But all he got out was the "Oh," followed by heaving, tearing sobs he couldn't stop, and damn, wasn't _that_ embarrassing? He was lifetime military. He had no business crying like a baby on Daniel's shoulder, with Daniel's arms cradling him and his snot running down Daniel's shirt.

Except he wasn't military anymore, and a lifetime had turned out to encompass a lot more than he'd ever imagined. And he was still Charlie's father.

He was something else, too. He'd shed layers, or emerged from a cocoon, or something, and he'd never even noticed. _I get it,_ he wanted to tell Daniel. _It's like going through the Gate, or getting a download from the Ancients, or one of your meaning of life things, and I'll bet you know some myth that explains it,_ but he couldn't stop sobbing long enough to catch his breath.

Later, when he finally _could_ catch his breath, it felt like he'd already said everything he needed to say. So he followed Daniel back to the house, listening to Daniel go on about  Ani's special stew, and how it tasted just like chicken. And he sat at Daniel and Ani's beautiful, honey-colored table, and Daniel's sons crawled all over him, and when Ani asked, "It's okay?" he said, "Yeah, everything's okay," and strangely, it was. _This is home_ , he thought.

And then he thought that Daniel probably knew a myth that explained that, too.

* * *

The next big thing happened three months later, when they were finishing Ani's clinic. Jack put down his hammer, and stepped back over a pile of fragrant wood chips to look at the shelf he'd been hanging. He didn't fall, he didn't trip, he just stepped, but he heard the click as his knee gave way. The pain was blinding; he fell like a plane with two clipped wings. Through the cloud of agony and wood dust he thought _Shit_. This was it, this was the end. He was going to be old and helpless for the rest of his life, a burden to himself, to the community, to...oh, hell, _Sam_. He wasn't having her tied to him like this, having to care for him--

Ani was there right away, firm hands and a comforting voice, and he struggled to tell her. "Don't let me--" he ground out.

"Hush," she said. "You'll be fine. Everything will be fine."

"No," Jack insisted through clenched teeth. "You don't understand..."

And then Daniel was there, telling him to lie back, and Jack tried to use the old language they used to share, to send the message with his eyes: _shoot me now_. But Daniel didn't seem to be translating as well as he used to. He urged Jack to drink something cool and thick, and it dulled Jack's pain, but it also dulled his mind.  Ani rubbed something sweet-smelling on his knee and wrapped it tight, and it felt better, a lot better, but no one would listen to him, and his tongue wouldn't work. He laid back and watched Daniel huddle with Sam, sandy head next to blonde, worried glances and whispers. Sam came over and smiled and squeezed his hand, and said soft words his brain couldn't process, couldn't respond to. Then the Elders swam into his vision -- nice to see they cared -- and exchanged low comments while Daniel gestured and nodded. Jack tried to tell Ani again, but she said, "Drink this," in that no-nonsense voice Janet Fraiser used to use, and he did.

He woke up, and Daniel was sitting there, smiling. "Hey, Jack. We're going to get you back to the house. You won't feel a thing --"

"No," Jack said. His head was blessedly clear, and the pain in his knee a dull ache. Janet Fraiser would have loved Ani. "Not there, I can't--"

"My home," Daniel said, gesturing to himself and Ani. "Our home."

"Oh," Jack said. Well, that was...not okay, exactly, but better than burdening Sam. Ani was a doctor, so it would be like being in the infirmary. "For a day or two, maybe. But that's it. I don't need anyone taking care of me."

"Of course not," Daniel said. "But you're going to be off that leg for a little while and -- look, Jack, Ani's busy, and we have two little kids. It's kind of overwhelming. I could use someone to help out, so..."

"Oh," Jack said. "Well. I could do that."

"Thanks," Daniel said. He unfolded what looked like a stretcher and gently lifted Jack's legs until they were resting on the finely woven material. "Also," Daniel said, focusing on Jack's feet, "there's...uh...you and Sam." He nudged and hoisted, getting Jack onto the stretcher, carefully avoiding Jack's eyes. "The Elders have this law, if someone's hurt or sick. Because sometimes a couple can't deal with that. So if they both want to part, and there's someone to care for the hurt person, then they can live apart for a year. And after that, they can get back together, if they want to. Or they can go on with their separate lives." He called to somebody to come help with the stretcher, and a man named Kai came into view, smiling at Jack.

Jack grabbed Daniel's arm. "I don't remember that law," he said.

"It's, uh, new," Daniel said.

Jack thought about Daniel huddled with Sam, and then all that serious back-and-forth with the elders. "How new?" he asked suspiciously. "Daniel, what did you do?"

Daniel busied himself with the stretcher. "Does it matter?" he asked.

Jack felt a burst of momentary pride that even flat on his back and half out-of-it on some off-world pain killer, Daniel _still_ couldn't get one past him. "Daniel--"

But Daniel still couldn't concede a point. "Things change," he said firmly."But only the details. Don't worry, Jack. It'll be fine. You'll be fine. Sam will be fine. Everything's going to be okay."

And then Daniel and Kai hoisted the stretcher, and the world was passing over and around Jack, and he had no choice but to believe what Daniel said.

Which meant that Daniel was right again. The big things hadn't changed.

* * *

After the second night, Jack was pretty sure staying with Daniel wasn't going to work out. The kids were great, and Ani was a magician as far as his knee was concerned. But even at the best of times Jack was a light sleeper, and this wasn't the best of times.  And he was sleeping on a pallet in the middle of the house.

The third morning, Daniel stumbled out of his tiny bedroom and found Jack sitting upright on his pallet, trying to maneuver himself onto a pair of make-shift crutches. Daniel wrestled the crutches away from him. "You're supposed to stay off your feet," he said. "You look like hell."

"I didn't sleep much," Jack said.

"If you knee is..." Daniel began.

"The knee's pretty good, actually."

"Oh," Daniel said, puzzled, and then "Oh!", and he blushed a furious red.

"Don't," Jack said. "It's not -- I'm not a great sleeper, is all. Really."

"Well, we, uh..." Daniel said. He looked like he could use a cup of coffee. "But we could...and you could, you know... earplugs. So the...uh, so the..." He was interrupted by one of the boys calling for his mother, and he turned away from Jack, his attention shifting.

"You know, if you keep _uh_ ," Jack teased, "you're going to end up with a dozen kids."

Daniel had started toward the soft sounds, but Ani was already with the boys. "Yeah, I know," he said, turning back to Jack. He smiled -- Daniel smiled a lot, these days -- and said, "But...well, it's...you know." He shrugged, still smiling. "And...it's not like I'm going to have to put them through college."

More baby sounds, and Ani murmuring. _This is life_ , Jack thought. "Does that bother you?" he asked. "That your kids won't have doctorates?"

Ani wandered in carrying both boys. She saw Jack and Daniel talking, nodded and smiled, and deposited Jas with Daniel before heading off to their kitchen. Daniel leaned over and tucked the still-sleepy boy on Jack's good side. "It's not what I pictured, when I pictured Dr. Daniel Jackson's life," he said.

_I is someone else_, Jack thought.

"But maybe...maybe it's better," Daniel went on. "Maybe there are actually more options here, in this kind of life. I think of all the things the kids can learn -- from me, and Ani, from you, from Sam, from everybody. And they'll add to that, and teach their children, and who knows what will come of that?" He wandered off to the kitchen, returning a few minutes later with bread and fruit. He handed half of a hunk of crusty loaf and a sort-of banana to Jack, and then began offering bits to Jas. "That first time through the Stargate...who could have imagined?" 

"Or the _last_ time through the  Stargate," Jack said. "I would never have believed that this place would end up being..."

"Being...?"

"Important to me," Jack conceded. He looked down at Jas, who beamed and presented him with some bits of chewed bread and mangled fruit. Jack accepted them, yumming loudly, and Jas giggled. "It's funny," he went on, surprised at the half-thoughts that had suddenly found words."The first time I met Sam and Teal'c, I knew they were important. I knew they were going to be important in my life."

"Well, yeah," Daniel said.

"I knew what we were getting into, then, I guess. Or maybe it was the military thing. I don't know."

"Maybe it was Sam," Daniel said. "And, you know, _Teal'c_."

"When I met you, though..."

"Well, yeah," Daniel agreed. "Geek. Hardass colonel. Big, round, alien gate-thing. Not exactly your, uh..."

"I didn't have a clue," Jack said. "I had no idea you were going to be..."

Daniel looked up from his ineffectual efforts to wipe Jas' face. "Flaky on good day?"

Jack gave him a look.

"Dead so often?" Daniel suggested with a small grin.

"My friend," Jack said, determined to finish the thought. "One of the most important people in my life. As well as the most annoying, and the most irritating, and the...did I mention annoying?"

"Huh," Daniel said, busying himself with Jas' hands. "That's, uh...I, uh...guess I don't think of myself as...that is, I've never been in the habit of thinking of myself as...you know."

"Annoying?" Jack asked sweetly.

"Uh...I, uh...yeah. That's it."

Jack rolled his eyes. "You have a wife, Daniel. And two kids. I think you're important to a few people."

"I know," Daniel said, toying with Jas' food. "It's just...it's hard to change from what was to what is. From how you've always seen yourself, to how you are, now. It's hard to trust in that."

"Yeah," Jack said. "I've noticed that. I've been noticing that a lot, lately."

And Daniel nodded at that, and made another futile stab at wiping Jas' hands. "Ah, you, too. To me. I mean, you know. Important."

Jack grinned. "Your father, the linguist," he said to Jas.

"Dadadadadadada," Jas chanted.

"And more," Daniel said, and then he smiled at them both. "We're all so much more than I thought we were. Than I imagined we could be." He leaned back a little, his voice dreamy. "I embrace multitudes..."

Jas crawled into Jack's lap. Jack wrapped his arms around the small, soft, solid body, laid his head against the warm, baby-sweet hair. "Yeah," he said.

* * *

Late in the seventh year, everything changed again.

It was before dawn when Sam began pounding on Daniel's door. Jack got there first; he had his own place, but was staying with Daniel to help with the newest baby. This one was a girl with a Tau'ri name chosen by Daniel: Alexandria.

"Sir!" Sam, breathless, had reverted to Carter, and Jack knew, without being told, what had happened. Daniel joined them at the door, tousled and sleepy-eyed. Sam rambled on. "A ship. An alkesh. It landed out past the town; I was out looking for those morning-blooming plants Ani uses to--"

"Hostiles?" Jack broke in.

"No, Sir. I stayed to watch. To draw them off, in case--"

" _And?_ " Daniel was now fully awake.

"It's...it's Teal'c." She actually bounced, and she was Sam again, grinning as thought she'd just discovered the unified theory of everything. "Teal'c found us! He and my father. They -- well, I'll let them tell you the whole story. But they're here. They're here! Can you believe it? They're here, _now_."

Daniel looked around wildly. " _Here?_ "

Sam shook her head. "They stayed with the ship. I didn't know if...well, the town's not exactly used to strangers. And Dad thought they should keep an eye on the ship, so..."

Jack couldn't say a thing. _Jacob?_ _Teal'c_? _Now?_

Jas piped up from behind them, eyes wide. "There's a space ship? Like Uncle Jack talks about? Can I go see it?"

And then Ani was there, wrapped in a quilt, holding the new baby, calm as always. "Shh! Don't wake Tag. Of course you should go. You'll all go. And then you'll bring your friends back here, to eat, and rest if they need to, and to meet the town."

"But--" Daniel said.

But Ani was already pulling a jacket for Jas off its peg, and Sam was urging them out the door. Daniel looked dumbstruck. He followed Sam in a daze, holding Jas's hand, and Jack and Ani both said, "Daniel! Shoes!", and Ani met Jack's eyes and smiled.

_This is my life,_ Jack thought _._ He wondered if one of Daniel's myths tales could explain what he was feeling, or tell him if he was at "happily-ever-after", or just the end of a chapter. He really had to start listening more.

And then he and Daniel and Sam and Jas were hurrying off past hushed houses and black-silhouetted trees, under the chill, slowly-turning sky.

An hour later, according to the internal clock Jack still ran on Earth time, they reached a clearing. Off to one side was a ship that was unmistakably an alkesh. Sam ran up to the ship, while Jack and Daniel walked side by side, Daniel with his son in his arms.

"It is good to see you all," Teal'c said calmly a moment later. In the dappled morning light, with the alkesh in the background, Jack thought it could have been any day, on any planet, with his team around him. It was nice to see some things hadn't changed -- but strange, because everything _had_ changed, hadn't it? _He_ had changed.

"Good to see you, too, Teal'c," Jack said when he found his voice. "You, too, Jacob. It's, uh...I didn't expect to see you again."

"I guess not," Jacob said, and Jack knew he was taking in their hair, their clothes, the wide-eyed, uncharacteristically silent child in Daniel's arms.

"He's Daniel's boy," Jack said unnecessarily. Jas was a five-year-old Daniel.

"You have a fine son, Daniel Jackson," Teal'c said.

"Two," Daniel said. "And a daughter. My younger son is named for you and General Hammond. I can't believe you're actually going to meet him." Daniel was beaming. Jack was, too, because hell, in a weird way, they were his kids, as well. Part of his life. His life, which was all going to change again. _Like when I got the Ancient's knowledge downloaded into my brain_ , he wanted to say to Daniel, except then he was terribly lost, and now he was surprisingly found, so maybe Daniel wouldn't be able to make sense of it this time.

The thought stabbed Jack with the same panic he'd felt when his knee went out, and he had to breathe through his mouth, deep, a few times.

"What--" Daniel began, and he was laughing a little and crying a little, so he had to start again. "Tell us _everything_.  The Goa'uld? The Replicators? Cassie? Catherine and Ernest? General Hammond? Earth?"

"Anything else?" Jacob asked. He had an arm around Sam, and looked like he might be crying a little, too. Jack supposed Sam had already asked her questions; she was awfully quiet. He couldn't think of any questions himself. Earth, yeah, but that seemed so big and far away, and not as real as the little stuff, like whether Jas was warm enough, and whether Gera would be disappointed if he didn't stop by for a cup of tea this morning, and whether Kai needed help fixing his porch.

"The Goa'uld have been defeated," Teal'c said. "The Replicators have been neutralized. We have allied with the Furlings\--"

"You met the Furlings?" Daniel broke in. "What--how--"

"General Hammond has retired. He, Catherine Langford and Ernest Littlefield are all well. Cassandra Fraiser has married and is working at the SGC," Teal'c went on imperturbably. "The Stargate Program is now public." He turned to Jack. "This year's hockey season has not yet begun. However, last year, the Maple Leafs won the Stanley Cup."

"Oh," Jack said. "Well. No hockey, and the Goa'uld and the Replicators defeated...I guess there's not going to be much for us to do on Earth." _A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away_..."And...it , uh...it sounds like you got by without us just fine. Not that that's not great, or that I expected less," he hurried to add. "It's all good." He couldn't think about the program being public, what that meant. It would be cool to see Carter get the Nobel Prize in Physics, though. And Daniel would have to win some special award for everything he'd done.

"That is not true," Teal'c was saying. "You were all greatly missed."

Jas chose that moment to find his voice. "Can we go in your spaceship?" he asked in perfect English.

"Indeed," Teal'c said gravely. "If you wish, we can take you all the way to Earth."

"If we _wish_?" Sam laughed.

"Sweet," Jas piped up.

* * *

Sam stayed with her father and Teal'c; Jack and Daniel walked back to the village while Jas darted ahead, chattering in two languages about starships and space and the stars.

"I..." Daniel began.

"I know," Jack said. His eyes were watering. He let them. "You're staying. Your life is here, now."

"If we could go visit, and then come right back, that would be different," Daniel said. "I'd love to show Ani Earth, and to see Catherine and Cassie and everybody. But no one's going to okay shuttle service between Earth and here -- wherever here is -- and..."

"I know," Jack said. "This is where you live, now. This is where you study, and teach, where your family is. This is home." Jas ran back, wormed his way in between them, and grabbed both their hands. Jack had to concentrate on not holding Jas' hand too tightly.

Daniel talked to Ani and the Elders, while Jack tried to explain to everyone else. To Kai, who'd become his friend, and who was the first to learn to play hockey. To Gera, the widow who'd come to live with her sister, and who talked with Jack late at night about the terror and excitement of starting over. Everyone seemed thrilled at the idea of visitors from beyond the stars. Jack wondered if they really understood what it meant. But hell, how could they understand when _he_ barely did?

A feast was planned. Jack slipped away from the bustle and sat for a while, staring at the sky, at the stars hidden by the day, and at those hidden by a reach of space a galaxy wide. Then he and Daniel hiked back to the alkesh to deliver the town's invitation. Jacob and Teal'c agreed to come, and Jack left them chatting with Daniel while he went off to talk with Sam.

They stood under a tree that was like an elm, but wasn't. Jack took a breath; the dark, leafy smell was as familiar to him as any he'd known on Earth. More, maybe.

"We can leave after the feast," Sam said, excitement radiating from her like heat from the sun.

"Yeah," Jack said. "About that..."

She nodded, her eyes serious, though happiness and relief still lit her face. "Daniel," she said. "He's...he's staying."

Jack nodded back. He looked down, staring at the boots he'd made of leather he'd tanned himself, and finally looked up.

"And...you're going to stay, too," Sam said.

"Yeah," Jack said softly.

Sam nodded.

"I wish..." Jack said. "That is..."

But Sam touched his arm, and then hugged him. "I know."

"I, uh...I have...I wrote..." He held out a folded sheet of paper.

Sam looked at it, and looked at Jack, and then nodded once again, slowly. "For Sara. Of course." She carefully put the paper in her pocket. "I'll be sure she gets it. And...I'll tell her."

"Tell her...?"

Sam took a breath, but her voice was steady. "That she was always the one," she said.

_Oh, Sam_. "I never deserved you, Sam.  Never."

And she was Carter then, for a minute. "No, Sir, you never did." And then, in a blink, Sam was back, squeezing his arm again. "We'll be back, you know. And maybe...maybe we'll be able to bring visitors. Who knows? Maybe Sara will want to visit."

"You...you think you'll come back? Really?"

"Are you kidding? This place is a goldmine, medically speaking. That stuff Ani uses for arthritis? That blue flower she makes into a paste to heal wounds? What she did for your knee? We've got to make researching this place a priority. And anyway, my dad says the Furlings want to meet you and Daniel, and the Nox and the Asgard have been asking about you both -- oh, we'll be back."

Jack smiled. "Well, if you _can_ come back, maybe you could bring...I really miss tee shirts and sweats.  And...and my pictures of Charlie. And, you know, Daniel's always going on about his books. And he could use a few journals. And the kids -- oh! Legos. And balls -- a basketball, a football. And a yoyo or two. And--"

"Coffee," Sam said. "Chocolate. Some scientific equipment for Ani. Back issues of 'Sports Illustrated'. A couple of laptops and a power source. DVDs, CDs. Tools. Games. I made a list, Jack."

"Of course, you did," Jack said. "Did you put--"

"Beer's on it," Sam said.

* * *

The feast was huge. Everyone who wanted a ride on the alkesh got one. Daniel's boys were wild, and finally passed out from excitement. Daniel was so busy reassuring Ani that he wanted to stay that he barely got to say his goodbyes.

Which wasn't, Jack thought, standing before Teal'c and Sam with a lump like a hockey puck in his throat, entirely a bad thing.

In the silence after everyone had left, and the town had finally gone to sleep, Jack sat with Daniel on Daniel's porch and stared at the stars. Inside, Ani was singing to the new baby.

"Sam said they'd come back," Daniel said. "If you -- you can change your mind."

"I didn't make the wrong decision," Jack said. "It was a long time coming, that's all. It took me a while to realize that the person and the place had finally met up." He smiled at Daniel in the moonlight. "I isn't someone else. There's just me."

"The hero's journey," Daniel said.

"What?"

"In myth, the--oh!"

"What, 'oh!'?"

"I just realized -- if they do come back, they could bring books!"

Jack laughed. "They'll come back, I think. And they'll bring books. So, in the meantime -- and I don't believe I'm asking this -- what were you saying about a myth?"

Daniel didn't ask why he was asking, just went into explanation mode. "Okay. The classic myth, the hero's journey, is sort of a blueprint for life. We all have to make a journey. Some people get to choose their journey, and some get forced into one, but one way or another we have to say yes, to make that first step. If we don't, we're stuck where we started, afraid to really live. If you don't live the myth, the myth lives you." He looked over his glasses at Jack.

"And? So? Therefore?"

Daniel nodded, as though he'd been waiting for just that response. "Well, if we accept the challenge of the journey, we face terrible hardships, and shoulder tremendous burdens. We have to take huge risks, deal with wizards and magicians, try to tell our friends from our enemies. We have to answer riddles and slay dragons -- or, in our case, snakes -- make decisions, and live with the consequences. We all have to make this huge, terrifying journey..."

"Alone?" Jack asked.

"Well, if you're lucky, you have company," Daniel said. He nudged Jack with his knee. "Like the Lone Ranger had Tonto."

Jack snorted. "So, what's the prize, at the end of it all?" he asked, though he knew. He just wanted to hear Daniel say it.

"You know who you are," Daniel said. "You know your true place."

"No medals?" Jack asked. "Huh."

"Well, you saved the world a few times," Daniel said. "There's probably a medal in it for you."

" _We_ saved the world," Jack said. "And it was worth it. Medal or no medal -- it was worth it.  All of it. Everything."

"It's not over yet," Daniel said. "The journey. The story's not done."

Jack felt a thrill of anticipation, like he used to before a mission. "That's good."

"I'm glad you're staying."

Jack looked at him.

"I mean, three kids." Daniel said, grinning. "I need all the help I can get."

"You know, Kemosabe..." Jack began, leaning back against the wooden railing. He'd split that piece of wood himself, helping Daniel build the porch. The wood felt still warm from the day, or maybe it had soaked up the warmth of the people who lived in the house. His family. "I'm going to teach your kids to follow the way of the Master."

"Lao Tzu?" Daniel asked, running his fingers over the smooth wood of the rail.

"Bart Simpson," Jack said.

"Oh, well, that's okay," Daniel said. "I mean, if it was _Homer_ Simpson, I'd be worried."

"I wonder if Sam will think to bring back doughnuts?" Jack asked the stars.

 

END 

_And suddenly this surprising earth_

_No longer clouded, was known again,_

_And all you had thought lost you found_

_Was simply for a time mislaid._

 

_From Brian Patten, "You Missed the Sunflowers at Their Height"_

 

**Author's Note:**

> Both "Chutney" and this story are supposed to be character studies of Jack, rather than Jack-Daniel stories. The major relationship is the one Jack's having with himself, as he navigates this particular patch of his life. That's my take on it, anyway. YMMV.
> 
> I cadged, "If you don't live the myth, the myth lives you," and the hero's journey stuff from Joseph Campbell.


End file.
